The use of a coaster for protecting a surface such as a table-top from drips, spillages, condensation or excessive hot or cold temperatures from, for example, beverage-containing receptacles is very well known. A typical example of this is in bars or restaurants, where beverages are consumed from a glass or a bottle which is placed on a coaster to protect the table-top or bar surface beneath it.
Conventional coasters are generally in the form of mats made of, for example, laminated cardboard, cork or other wood. These known coasters are cheap to produce and their thermal insulation properties are generally satisfactory. However, their lifetime is often short, owing mainly to inferior strength and low liquid resistance.
Further problems encountered by avid beverage drinkers and the people who supply or serve beverages in bars or restaurants arise from the various types of container in which beverages are packaged and sold. Each type of container generally has its unique means of opening. For example, beverage cans are normally opened using a ring pull or tab, whereas bottles, especially bottles containing carbonated or fermented beverages, are often fitted with crimped caps. Unfortunately, such opening means have a number of associated shortcomings:
Can tabs are often difficult to grasp and properly manipulate, for example owing to the ring pull being formed from particularly stiff metal or the consumer having fat or weak fingers and/or weak or excessively long or short fingernails. Beverage cans are also non-closable, so the whole contents must be consumed within a short time if it is not to deteriorate or go "flat" in the case of carbonated or other fizzy beverages. With regard to bottle caps of the crimped type, removal of the cap necessitates use of a special tool, which frequently has no other purpose other than for opening crimped bottle caps. In bars and restaurants this bottle opener is generally a fixed device mounted behind the bar so that bottles must generally be opened by the bar staff prior to being served to a customer. This ca sometimes be inconvenient, for example when a customer does not wish to consume his or her beverage at the time of purchase. It is also as impractical to supply each customer with their own special bottle opener with their purchase as it is unrealistic for consumers to carry their own bottle opener around with them for use as and when needed.
There are therefore several specific criteria, any number of which it would be desirable to be able to satisfy simultaneously with the provision of a coaster, for use by a consumer, namely:
functionality as a means of closure for beverage cans and similar vessels once they are opened; PA1 functionality as a bottle opener, for use by a consumer as and when required; PA1 functionality as a can tab lifter for assisting opening of a beverage can.
In other words, the lives of both beverage drinkers and people who supply or serve beverages could be made easier if there was available a single tool which could not only be used as a coaster but also function as a bottle opener and/or a can tab lifter and/or a can sealing lid. Such a tool would have to be readily available for use by a consumer as and when needed, wherever beverages are sold and/or consumed, and be comparable to conventional coasters in cost and ease of manufacture.
Such a tool has now been found.